46 Responses to “It’s a Man-loving-Man World…”

1. heather (errantdreams) Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 9:23 am

   1 Thanks for the suggestions—I wouldn’t know where to start, and it sounds like a fun genre!

2. Lorelie Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 9:48 am

   2 Recently, there’s even been some buzz about a NY Times best-selling author giving the spotlight to her two openly gay characters in an upcoming romance novel [Ed. note: Really?]. Cheers, Suzanne Brockmann! Re: the Ed. Note. Yep. Force of Nature featured Jules and Robin as the secondary characters and the upcoming novella All Through The Night has them as the leads. But for their full story arc you have to start with Hot Target. And ladies, thanks for the tips. I like m/m and have been wanting to check out some manga but had no idea where to start.

3. bam Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 9:54 am

   3 Author Comment Dude, if you want angsty gay drama… and we’re talking motherfucking angsty, yo— check out Happy Together by Wong Kar Wai. You’ll have to watch out, though. ‘Cause then you’ll want to watch ALL of his movies. ’cause he’s so brilliant, I don’t know how he can contain it all in his skinny little body. And you’ll fall in love with Tony Leung.

4. Ashley V Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:00 am

   4 I love m/m erotica and romance. There is just something about it that I can’t get enough of lol

5. Tumperkin Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:09 am

   5 I read somewhere recently (sorry - can’t remember where) that women love M/M stories - and notoriously not F/F stories - because we love HEROES and in an M/M we get two of ‘em. I’d love to hear what you think of that theory, Anne and Barbara. I certainly love me some heroes. Personally, however, I’d be just as interested in reading F/F stories. For me, it’s not about the what-goes-where - it’s about the writing and the character journey. I recently re-read my favourite bits of Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (which is classified as Litrachoor rather than romance) and I was totally sucked in by both of the love stories. Because when you read about love and desire and longing, it doesn’t matter what sex the characters are. I mean, get this (written about the heroine’s first love who she is leaving behind forever): “One part of me reached out to her at once, leapt to her like a pin to a magnet; I believe the very same part of me would leap to her again - would go on leaping to her, if she went on asking me, forever.” *eyes tear up* Bliss. Great post by the way.

6. Barbara Sheridan Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:11 am

   6 I ADORE Tony Leung………Did you see him in Flowers of Shanghai and with Kaneshiro in Confession of Pain? To. Die. For. Lorelie –I babbled on Brockmann’s Jules & Robin on the Slash & Burn blog today. I’m going to hunt down Force of Nature but their first impression was not a really good one– for me anyway. I wanted to bitchslap them both a few times. I keep hearing our Toshiro ramble in my head I’d eat him for breakfast —and not in the good way. Be that as it may I will be buying their solo story and no doubt looking up more of the SEAL/Troubleshooters backlist.

7. TA Chase Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:24 am

   7 Hey Anne and Barb, Just dropped in to let you know that I pimped Parallel Process on my blog today. Haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but it’s definitely a must read for me. Darn it. I’ve been searching high and low for Gerard & Jacques. I’m going to have to break down and order it from Amazon.

8. Jambrea Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:35 am

   8 Soul of the Night sounds interesting. I’ve only read one m/m book and that was Fireflies by Ally Blue. It was a good read.

9. Barbara Sheridan Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:45 am

   9 I’d love to hear what you think of that theory, Anne and Barbara. I’m with ya Tumperkin! Two men are twice as nice, especially when they’re smexing each other up. There’s this scene in the film Bishonen (check out the youtube clips) when the one guy can’t contain himself any longer and he lays a big wet one on the object of his affection–talk about HOT hungry kisses. *Swoon* TA–*hugs* Thank you sooo much! Jambrea–Did ya know Anne did that cover?

10. Chris Roberts Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:53 am

    10 Anne and Barbara, I love your m/m stories. I was lucky enough about 8 months ago to be introduced to m/m stories by a friend of mine. I love the relationships you see in m/m stories. As I read I lose focus that it is two males and just fall in love with the beautiful story.

11. Allison Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:56 am

    11 I read somewhere recently (sorry - can’t remember where) that women love M/M stories - and notoriously not F/F stories - because we love HEROES and in an M/M we get two of ‘em. That’s an interesting theory. I’m not sure how true it is, though — for me, anyway. The reason m/m enthralls me so much is the vulnerability. It’s easy for women to be vulnerable and emotional with one another, but much less so, I think, for men. And m/m tugs on my heartstrings so much because it shows a relationship that overcomes that. I’m a sucker for a romance about overcoming emotional obstacles, and m/m is chock full of that!

12. Amy S. Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 11:01 am

    12 I love reading m/m. I haven’t tried any of the yaoi books or the mangas yet though. Those books sound great! I will have to check them out.

13. Barbara Sheridan Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 11:06 am

    13 In yaoi Manga the Viewfinder series by Yamane Ayano has gorgeous gorgeous artwork.

14. Anne Cain Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 11:16 am

    14 Heather~ Once you give it a try, I think you’ll love the genre! The mangas are especially fun–so much crazy stuff happens, especially in yaoi. Lorelie~ I have to warn you…once you get hooked on the manga, you won’t be able to stop! *LOL* Another title I enjoyed a lot is “Wild Rock”–great artwork and a really sweet story. Bam~ OMG. I just Amazon’ed Happy Together, and it’s in my shopping cart RIGHT NOW. I have a feeling my debit card is going to be taking a few more sucker-punches before the day is up as long as folks keep making such excellent recs. Ashley~ I know what you mean! I’ll share a dirty quasi-secret with you: I’m really not much of a het romance fan (though there are some titles I wub, just because they sizzzzzzle and the heroines are awesome). But I am crazy about m/m romance and yaoi, addicted even! Timperkin~ EXCELLENT comments! I’ve read a few discussions on sites like http://www.aestheticism.com that talk about why m/m is more popular with women than f/f. (The same phenomenon happens in the manga world too, with yaoi being far more popular than yuri, the genre’s f/f counterpart.) Yes, I agree that part of it has to do with the appeal of a story having two (or more *g*) sexy male heroes all hot for each other, but I also think it might also tie in with how readers relate to the characters they read about. Some straight gals might not be able to get into the heroines’ shoes because they can’t empathize with a sexual attraction towards another woman. As a writer, I think it would be great to explore an f/f relationship in a story, but as a reader I tend to prefer m/m. I think it’s because, as a woman, I have more fun exploring relationships that are totally different from anything I could experience myself (which sort of explains why I don’t enjoy a lot of het or m/f romances either). I hope that makes sense…:P BTW, guess what else just landed in my Amazon shopping cart: the Tipping the Velvet DVD.

15. Anne Cain Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 11:30 am

    15 TA~ *GLOMPS*! Thanks for coming by, luv! You’ve got quite a few awesome m/m releases available and in the works. I think we’ve got to convince Bam to have another m/m author take over her blog. And you will *not* be dissappointed with Gerard & Jacques! Cris and Allison~ You’re both absolutely right; the emotion in the relationships is another reason that makes m/m romance so wonderful. And that’s one thing seperating the genre from gay erotica (which tends to be geared more for the gay male). There’s a loooooot of hardcore sex, but not always a lot of romance or character build-up. With female readers (straight or otherwise), there tends to be a lot more appeal in the relationship itself.

16. cathy M Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    16 I have recently started reading m/m romance, and am always on the lookout for a good romantic storyline. I haven’t yet read Parallel Process and Sins of the Night, but both sound like books that I would enjoy reading.

17. Shannon Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 2:13 pm

    17 I, personally, am sad to admit that I can probably be qualified as a yaoi-fangirl. I adore m/m romances in pretty much every form, and I am embarrassed to say that even with characters who are firmly straight, I still find myself hoping that maybe they might just be a little curious… I write m/m, too. For some reason I find it easier to get into a guys head than a girls, so it was completely natural that I chose two men for my romance when I first started. As for the why women enjoy m/m…I’ve never summed it up any further than if one man is awesome, two men are flipping amazing. I enjoy the emotions, too, of course. I find myself enjoying the ones that focus around sex, but its rare that I’ll go back and reread unless there is some greater plot woven through to engage my emotions.

18. Jambrea Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 2:58 pm

    18 Barbara, no I didn’t know that Anne did that cover. The Fireflies cover is beautiful Anne. You do great work!

19. Larena Wirum Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

    19 I have just started to get into the genre myself but I have found a few books that are really good. I will have to look for the one you have named.

20. Jessy Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 3:08 pm

    20 Hi. Nice to see my Totchi up here. I see I’m going to have to do a bit of writing, so as not to forget things to search for.

21. Ann Bruce Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 3:19 pm

    21 How come I don’t see Russell Wong mentioned anywhere? Russell and…well, anyone. Just not Andy Lau.

22. Barbara Sheridan Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 3:54 pm

    22 I am embarrassed to say that even with characters who are firmly straight, I still find myself hoping that maybe they might just be a little curious… Don’t be embarrassed!! I Anne and I do this ALL the time. We were even talking about it last night. Actually playing that “what if they were gay” game is sort of what caused us to meet online rp based on a year long Japanese drama about an historic samurai police type troop whose modern claim to fame is being immortalized in an non yaoi manga & anime. Ann Bruce if you think Russel Wong is hot (which he so is) Look for the films of Shosuke Tanihara. Fudoh is a favorite of mine.

23. TA Chase Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 5:04 pm

    23 I’m glad to hear that, Anne. I’m slowly building up my yaoi collection. Thanks as well. I’m hoping you’ll be receiving a couple cover requests in the next week or so.

24. Pugsley (o';'o) Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 6:08 pm

    24 I love your “favorites” Anne and many of these are mine as well. I recently watched “Bishounen”, which I thought was wonderful. I have also have seen “Gone, But Not Forgotten” on your list. For the manga, I am glad that you put Yamane Ayano’s “The Finder (Viewfinder)” series. I think her men are just gorgeous. I too like “Gerard & Jacques” for pretty much the same reason that you do. Here is a recommendation from the same publisher as “Gerard & Jacques”, that you might like to check out~ “Black Knight” by Kai Tsurugi. BK is a sweeping romantic fantasy epic about the relationship between the prince of a medieval kingdom and his loyal guardsman. The artwork is very nice and I really like the storyline, that has a bit if drama, intrigue, attempted murder and jealousy. The main characters are wonderful and some of the side characters add a bit of comedy that I really enjoy. I do not want to take up any more room, but I do want to say that you and Barbara have done a phenomenal job on your books and Anne you are a wonderful artists. I wish you both good luck with your future endeavors.

25. Teresa Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 6:53 pm

    25 Hi!! I can’t wait to read Parallel Process and review it for you. Is Pawprints a up and coming book!! Love the cover. I have read(and reviewed) many of your books and I love them all. ChildsPrey rocks!! Keep up the great writing!!!

26. Kim Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 8:00 pm

    26 Thanks for all the information. That’s neat that you two write together. It seems it would make it less like work and more like fun. I think you had great inspiration for your stories! Yum! I do find that I enjoy the m/m stories. I don’t read them all the time but it’s a good addition to the mix of books that I read.

27. kim h Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 8:59 pm

    27 i do love the covers. love tony and the asian stars.

28. Karmyn Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 10:40 pm

    28 I have to say that I am the opposite of the theory posted here. I’m not into m/m, but do enjoy an occassional f/f if I can find a good one. But strangely, I never cared much for Sarah Waters. I tried to read Tipping the Velvet a few times and the characters just irritated me constantly. Even though I’m not into m/m, those are some beautiful covers. I’m sure your stories are more realistic then some of the m/m out there. I won’t name any names, but we all know who I mean.

29. Lorelie Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 11:16 pm

    29 Barbara: Which Slash and Burn blog would that be?

30. Lorelie Posted: Sep 28th, 2007 at 11:17 pm

    30 Er….ne’er mind, I found it.

31. Barbara Sheridan Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 3:34 am

    31 *Hugs* to our gal Pugsley. Yamane’s art is lovely and you must tell us all about your yaoi-con adventures. ^_^ Teresa–Parallel Process is a fun story and up in the photos Anne posted, bottom row, right, is the inspiration behind that snarky, smexy Maaya. Kim & kim h–Thank you. We do have fun writing because you never quite know what the other person will throw into the mix. Karmyn–I saw the first part of the miniseries of Tipping the Velvet. I loved the period details since that’s’ my favorite writing era but the characters didn’t quite capture me either. I’m sure your stories are more realistic then some of the m/m out there. Well, a lot of what we write is heavily influenced by yaoi where everything is a bit larger than life a more melodramatic at times. but I think all of our characters are people readers can identify with–well maybe not the bad boy vampires, but you get the idea. Of all our stories though, I think Jason and Randy from our EC Quickie I Do have the strongest ties to “the real world”. I can really see those two having a shot in a mainstream romantic suspense along the lines of Suz Brockmann’s–with lots more smexing of course ~_^

32. Nica Berry Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 5:57 am

    32 Fun article . . . though I have a hard time believing that slash is exactly realistic, given that it started with the whole Kirk/Spock in love idea and generally stays with other already-created characters and involves relationships that wouldn’t really happen on the show or in the book. But hooray for the rise of M/M fiction in any form! I’ll be off at Yaoicon too, and am very much looking forward to adding to my own yaoi collection and doing a panel or two. Woohoo!

33. Bonnie Dee Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 8:48 am

    33 Thanks for all the information and the leads on things to read. I’m interested in the genre, but have to admit I’m not all that familiar with yaoi. I’ve written my first m/m romance, Undeniable Magnetism, which will be out at Loose Id next year. It’s a contemporary with a bi-racial couple, and I strove to make it realistic rather than melodramatic. Believe I succeeded.

34. Anne Cain Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 10:09 am

    34 *Gah*! I tried posting a long-ish response to a few comments yesterday and I think the internet gremlins ate it. Take two: Heather~ Once you give it a try, I think you’ll love the genre! The mangas are especially fun–so much crazy stuff happens, especially in yaoi. Lorelie~ I have to warn you…once you get hooked on the manga, you won’t be able to stop! *LOL* Another title I enjoyed a lot is “Wild Rock”–great artwork and a really sweet story. Bam~ OMG. I Amazon’ed Happy Together, and it’s in my shopping cart RIGHT NOW. I have a feeling my debit card is going to be taking a few more sucker-punches before the weekend is up as long as folks keep making such excellent recs.

35. Anne Cain Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 10:11 am

    35 Ashley~ I know what you mean! I’ll share a dirty quasi-secret with you: I’m really not much of a het romance fan (though there are some titles I wub, just because they sizzzzzzle and the heroines are awesome). But I am crazy about m/m romance and yaoi, addicted even! Timperkin~ EXCELLENT comments! I’ve read a few discussions on sites Aestheticism.com that talk about why m/m is more popular with women than f/f. (The same phenomenon happens in the manga world too, with yaoi being far more popular than yuri, the genre’s f/f counterpart.) Yes, I agree that part of it has to do with the appeal of a story having two (or more *g*) sexy male heroes all hot for each other, but I also think it might also tie in with how readers relate to the characters they read about. Some straight gals might not be able to get into the heroines’ shoes because they can’t empathize with a sexual attraction towards another woman. As a writer, I think it would be great to explore an f/f relationship in a story, but as a reader I tend to prefer m/m. I think it’s because, as a woman, I have more fun exploring relationships that are totally different from anything I could experience myself. Does that makes sense…? BTW, guess what else just landed in my Amazon shopping cart: the DVD for Tipping the Velvet.

36. Anne Cain Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 10:17 am

    36 Ashley~ I know what you mean! I’m addicted to m/m romance and yaoi, and I prefer it over traditional m/f or het romance. Timperkin~ EXCELLENT comments! I’ve read a few discussions on message lists about the popularity of m/m with women over f/f. (The same phenomenon happens in the manga world too, with yaoi being far more popular than yuri, the genre’s f/f counterpart.) Yes, I agree that part of it has to do with the appeal of a story having two sexy male heroes all hot for each other, but I also think it might also tie in with how readers relate to the characters they read about. As a writer, I think it would be great to explore an f/f relationship in a story, but as a reader I tend to prefer m/m because, as a woman, I have more fun exploring relationships that are totally different from anything I could experience myself. Does that makes sense…?

37. Anne Cain Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 10:25 am

    37 Nica~ You’re going to Y-con? *squeee*!! Take a few extra pics of the bishies for those of us who can’t make it. About slash being more realistic– it’s not the probability of the relationship that’s more ‘authentic’, but the details a lot of slash authors go into. I’ve read stories by gals who put in hours of research actually studying gay sex to make it the most realistic description, and will use plenty of raw language to portray it. It’s sort of like this: a slash writer will argue about how much lube the couple should use, but a yaoi writer will say, “Lube? *pfffffffffffft*.” LOL

38. Karmyn Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 10:56 am

    38 Anne, I think you hit the nail on the head with slash vs yaoi. Which explains a lot of the problems fans have with the genre. Too many teenage girls out there (and possibly older women) don’t grasp the concept that yaoi is fantasy and life isn’t really like that for gay men. Or anybody. I may not read it, but I’ve spent a long time in fandom and have learned more about it then I ever imagined possible. As for lube, just remember one thing. If sex is a pain in the ass, you’re doing it wrong.

39. Anne Cain Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 12:30 pm

    39 Karmyn–LMAO!!! I’ll be quoting that for months now. XD There are definitely readers out there who don’t realize yaoi is just a fantasy. On the flipside, there are some readers who have a problem yaoi because of the fantasy aspect and prefer more true-to-life situations and characters. For example, weepy ukes sometimes get picked on for being ‘whimpy bottoms’. (But what the hell–IMO, man-tears can be sexy and cute!) Speaking of characters, I’ve seen some criticisms online that male heroes in female written m/m romances don’t ‘feel like real guys’. Maybe because the characters are too emotional and that’s considered an ‘effeminate trait’? Though, last I noticed, men have feelings too. That’s one thing I really liked about Line of Beauty: the author is gay himself, and he portrays the lead character as a very tenderhearted, eager-for-love young man who sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve. To me, that didn’t make him any less a real man.

40. winnie Posted: Sep 29th, 2007 at 2:56 pm

    40 I have been a reader of slash fanfiction for about three years now and I must say I love the genre and I’m now just starting to write it myself as well.(it took a while to get up the confidence, baby steps…). I must admit I havent read Yaoi at all yet as I have tended to stick to my fandom but I love that m/m slash and yaoi are becoming more popular. I think I’ll have to check out your rec’s too *hugs*

41. Tumperkin Posted: Sep 30th, 2007 at 10:44 am

    41 Yup - that totally makes sense. I’d happily read f/f but there’s no doubt I find m/m easier to relate to.

42. Mary Posted: Sep 30th, 2007 at 10:59 am

    42 See.. I tried to get into Gerard & Jaques, but I couldn’t. The art was nice, but.. something about the interplay between the characters I just didn’t agree with. There are some other yaoi manga out there that are really good. There’s Cantarella (okay, more historical than strict yaoi, but has some definite yaoi elements) and Gorgeous Carat (sexy frenchmen yum). My favorite yaoi manga of all time has to be Skyscrapers of Oz. It has an interesting mystery plot with a twist, the characters are really fun to get to know. Good art. It’s a single-volume manga usually wrapped in plastic at the stores. As for the art, there’s a couple of girls from Italy that specialize in yaoi art/manga. DanyandDany.com Quite awesome stuff and they’re getting out there with different publishers and starting to publish in English. Line of Beauty and Bad Education sound -really- good though.

43. dl Posted: Oct 1st, 2007 at 11:51 am

    43 Confess to drifting further & further into m/m reading, not really sure why, but if I find men sexy why shouldn’t other men? Jet Mykles is also writing some good stuff in her Heaven Sent series. Also recently published in paperback. Thanks everyone for the recommendations.

44. catie Posted: Oct 1st, 2007 at 5:11 pm

    44 I have been noticing this “trend” in e-book fiction and yes, y’all have totally piqued my curiosity! I’m putting everything you mentioned on my various lists and I’ll be checking out your websites asap. I’m *thrilled* to see relationships still viewed by so many as “alternative” making their way into (so-called) mainstream venues. Granted, it’s not the same a people realizing love is love regardless of one’s sexual identity, but it’s a step in the right direction. Thanks so much for posting!

45. Karmyn Posted: Oct 1st, 2007 at 7:40 pm

    45 I read the first six volumes of Cantarella and there never was anything really explicit gay or het. I had a hard time remembering who was a guy and who wasn’t because of the drawing style. It took me a bit to get used to manga style. I did enjoy R.O.D., which did have a bit of lesbian subtext. I guess my age or the internet has jaded me. I read the manga with the warnings and didn’t find very much explicit in them.

46. Teresa W. Posted: Oct 2nd, 2007 at 1:21 pm

    46 Have never read anything in this genre but this sounds like a good read!